Os caminhos do método histórico-gramatical: uma perspectiva descritiva

Abstract

The object of this research is the Historical-Grammatical Method understood as a system of Bible interpretation derived from the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Its goal is to trace the route of this method, since the post-apostolic period up to contemporary times, and solidification as a method of interpretation adopted by different theological currents in the search for systematization of its methodology. Its relevance lies in the possibility of rescuing the history of the method seen as a precedent over the others in terms of the orthodox system and aim of biblical interpretation. The search path can be set into stages of research and presentation of the results: in the first case takes place the identification and definition of method: the traditional hermeneutic, as presentation of methodological principles and techniques needed to interpret biblical texts, is the formal principle of the Method; and the exegesis, as the application of hermeneutical principles to the biblical text in order to understand and explain it, it is the method referred, in practice, to the steps to be given in the interpretation process. In the second stage, there is a review of the historical process which culminated in the Grammatical-Historical Method: by it the embryo of the method is located in the post-New Testament period and its development in the centuries that followed, passing by the schools of Antioch, the West and St. Victor, beyond the Protestant Reformation and later periods. And, in the third stage, we describe the method itself of theological and methodological perspectives. The conclusion is that the grammatical-historical method of the view that God exists and has revealed himself to man through the written Word and that this revelation, to have originated in his will, makes this knowledge possible and necessary to man. The possibility of knowledge achieves the sense of the Scriptures as intended by God through the human author. It is about a unique, true and full sense, clearly stated and explained in the Scriptures and their understanding can be achieved through ordinary means, as the preaching, the reading and the prayer.